The present invention relates to a mammography unit, comprising a C-arm which is mounted on a turning axle adapted to be vertically movable on an upright column and which is pivotable about the turning axle, one leg of said C-arm being provided with an X-ray tube and the opposite leg with an image receptor, and said unit further comprising a compression element for compressing the breast to be imaged against the image receptor, said C-arm being further adapted to move linearly in substantially radial directions in the direction transverse to the turning axle.
One drawback in the available mammography units is that compression of the breast with a compression element inflicts pain on a patient and, in addition, some of the breast area remains outside the imaging range. This drawback can be alleviated by moving the C-arm of a mammography unit linearly along the upright column together with the turning axle. However, this is only possible in vertical imagings.